Google is changing how Local Services Ads (LSA) are managed. Instead of continuing to operate as a separate advertising system, existing eligible Local Services Ads campaigns are being transitioned into a specialized Performance Max campaign with pay-per-lead goals inside Google Ads.
For local businesses, this is more than a dashboard change. The advertising model is being brought into the Google Ads ecosystem, which changes how you manage budgets, bidding, campaign settings, reporting, and some business information. At the same time, several of the features that made Local Services Ads different from conventional Google Ads remain in place.
The most important point is that this migration does not turn Local Services Ads into ordinary click-based Performance Max campaigns. Google’s new Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals continue to focus on direct customer connections. Businesses are charged for valid leads rather than ordinary ad clicks, and the migrated campaigns continue to serve on Google Search and Google Maps. They also remain keywordless, relying heavily on business categories, service areas, and information from the Google Business Profile.
Google began the migration in August 2026 for selected U.S. home and storefront service advertisers. The rollout is phased, with broader groups scheduled for later in 2026 and additional categories and non-U.S. accounts expected to transition in 2027. Therefore, the exact timing and eligibility of an individual business depends on its location, category, and account configuration.
For businesses that depend on LSA leads, the practical takeaway is simple: the customer-facing experience is designed to remain familiar, but the way you manage and optimize the campaign is changing.
That makes preparation important. Businesses should preserve historical performance data, review their Google Business Profile information, understand the new budget structure, and pay particular attention to how bidding works after the transition.
What Is the Local Services Ads Migration to Performance Max?
The Local Services Ads migration is Google’s process of moving eligible LSA campaigns into Performance Max campaigns specifically configured for pay-per-lead goals.
Traditional Local Services Ads have historically operated through a dedicated Local Services interface. Businesses could establish their service categories, service areas, budget, business information, and lead preferences through that system. After migration, the campaign is managed through Google Ads instead.
However, this new campaign type should not be confused with a standard Performance Max campaign.
It is still a pay-per-lead advertising model
With a conventional Google Ads campaign, advertisers commonly pay when someone clicks an ad. Google’s Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals work differently.
The business continues to pay for qualifying customer connections rather than simply paying for clicks. Depending on the available lead features and account eligibility, those customer connections can include actions such as phone calls and message leads. Google also lists direct bookings as an optional capability beginning in October 2026.
This distinction matters because the migration does not mean that an LSA advertiser suddenly has to manage the campaign like a traditional CPC campaign.
The campaign moves into Google Ads
One of the biggest operational changes is the management environment.
Before migration, businesses primarily manage their LSA activity through the Local Services interface. After migration, campaign management moves into Google Ads.
This gives advertisers a more unified environment for managing their Google advertising, while also introducing Google Ads-style controls and concepts around budgets and bidding. Google says advertisers will be able to manage budgets, targeting settings, and customer inquiries from Google Ads after migration.
The original LSA dashboard will no longer remain the primary management interface once the account has migrated. Attempting to access the old dashboard after the transition will redirect the advertiser to the campaign overview in Google Ads.
The campaign remains focused on local intent
Despite moving into Performance Max, these pay-per-lead campaigns are specifically designed around local customer acquisition.
Google says the campaigns continue to serve on Google Search and Google Maps, rather than expanding into the broader inventory associated with standard Performance Max campaigns. Standard Performance Max can serve across Google’s wider advertising ecosystem, while Performance Max with pay-per-lead goals remains focused on the local Search and Maps experience.
That means businesses should not interpret the migration as simply taking an LSA campaign and opening it across YouTube, Gmail, Display, and other standard Performance Max inventory.
Keywords remain different
Another important characteristic remains unchanged: there is no traditional keyword-management system like the one used in Search campaigns.
Instead of building extensive keyword lists and match-type strategies, the campaign uses information about the business, its services, categories, locations, and other campaign settings to determine which local searches are relevant.
Google describes these campaigns as keywordless, with targeting based on service categories and geographic areas selected for the business.
For local businesses, this means that accurate service definitions and business information remain critical. You cannot rely on a carefully constructed keyword list to compensate for inaccurate business categories or poorly defined service coverage.
Google Business Profile becomes even more important
The migration also strengthens the connection between Google Ads and the business’s Google Business Profile (GBP).
Google uses Business Profile information to pre-populate campaign information. Core information such as the business name, address, and business hours is synchronized from the Business Profile into Google Ads. Other information, including photos and service-area information, can have campaign-specific controls depending on the field.
This creates an important operational rule:
Your Google Business Profile should be accurate before your campaign migrates.
A major business-name, address, or other significant profile change can trigger additional verification. Google says significant changes to business information can result in a review that typically takes 24–48 hours, during which the campaign may temporarily pause.
The migration happens automatically
Businesses generally do not need to rebuild their campaigns manually.
Google says the migration process automatically transfers campaign settings, including targeted locations, service types, business categories, budget information, ad scheduling, and business photos.
Google also provides advance notification. The current migration guidance states that the account administrator receives an email 14 days before the scheduled migration, along with an in-dashboard notification. A subsequent reminder is sent before the transition.
This makes the period before migration especially valuable for preparation rather than campaign reconstruction.
What Stays the Same After the Migration
Although the management platform changes, Google is deliberately preserving several important characteristics of Local Services Ads.
Understanding what does not change can help businesses avoid overreacting to the move into Google Ads.
1. You still pay for leads, not ordinary clicks
The most important continuity is the pay-per-lead model.
A migrated campaign is not converted into a conventional CPC campaign where every click consumes advertising budget. The focus remains on direct customer connections that qualify as leads under Google’s system.
For example, a customer may search for a local service, interact with the business’s ad, and contact the business through an eligible lead action. The advertiser’s cost is tied to the qualifying lead rather than simply the customer’s click.
This is particularly important for service businesses because the economic model remains centered around generating customer inquiries.
2. Google Search remains a core placement
The migration does not remove local businesses from Google Search.
Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals continue to use Google Search to connect local customers with participating businesses.
Therefore, businesses should still think about:
- Local search intent
- Service relevance
- Geographic coverage
- Business categories
- Profile accuracy
- Lead quality
The campaign is still designed to capture customers who are actively looking for local services.
3. Google Maps remains part of the experience
Google Maps is also retained as a major placement.
This is significant for local businesses because Maps searches often have strong commercial intent. Someone searching for a plumber, electrician, roofer, cleaner, contractor, or similar provider in a particular area may be looking for a business they can contact immediately.
The migration does not remove this local discovery behavior. Google’s current documentation specifically states that Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals continue serving on Google Search and Google Maps.
4. Keywordless targeting remains
Businesses do not suddenly need to create a traditional keyword list after migration.
The campaign continues using a keywordless model, with targeting informed by the business’s service categories, geographic targeting, Business Profile information, and other campaign settings.
This means the quality of the information feeding the campaign becomes especially important.
A business offering several services should carefully review whether its selected categories accurately represent the work it wants to attract. Similarly, service-area settings should reflect where the company genuinely operates.
5. Local intent remains the priority
The migration does not fundamentally change the purpose of the campaign.
The goal remains to connect local businesses with people looking for their services.
This means businesses should continue evaluating performance through metrics such as:
- Number of valid leads
- Cost per lead
- Lead quality
- Phone-call volume
- Message inquiries
- Customer acquisition
- Service-area performance
- Conversion from lead to booked job
A campaign generating many inexpensive leads is not necessarily useful if those leads do not represent profitable customers.
6. Verification status can carry over
Businesses that have already completed the applicable verification process do not necessarily have to start from zero.
Google’s current migration guidance states that existing verification status and the Google Verified badge transfer automatically for eligible advertisers. Google has also moved toward a single Google Verified badge for eligible Local Services advertisers.
This is important because verification has historically been an important trust signal within Google’s local-services ecosystem.
However, businesses should distinguish between verification status and every other aspect of their business information. A later significant change to business details can still trigger a verification review.
7. Your existing customer lead history transfers
The migration is not designed to erase your customer lead history.
Google states that past customer lead information—including customer contact details, message conversations, and older call recordings—is transferred into Google Ads and remains available through the new Leads page.
That is different from historical campaign performance reporting, which does not transfer.
This distinction is important:
| Information | After migration |
|---|---|
| Existing customer lead history | Transfers to Google Ads |
| Customer contact information | Transfers |
| Message history | Transfers |
| Older call recordings | Transfers |
| Historical campaign performance reports | Do not transfer |
| Old LSA dashboard | No longer available after migration |
Businesses should therefore protect their historical reporting separately even though customer lead records themselves are retained.
Before & After: How Your Campaigns Actually Change
The most useful way to understand the migration is to compare the practical workflow before and after the transition.
The campaign’s purpose remains similar, but the management layer, budgeting system, bidding approach, reporting environment, and control structure change.
Before migration: Local Services Ads
Under the traditional LSA setup, businesses work primarily inside the Local Services environment.
Typical controls include:
- Service categories
- Job types
- Service areas
- Business information
- Weekly budget
- Lead preferences
- Business profile information
- Photos
- Ad scheduling
- Lead inbox and customer communications
The weekly budget is designed around the number of leads a business wants to generate.
After migration: Performance Max with pay-per-lead goals
After migration, the campaign becomes part of Google Ads.
The business gains a more integrated management environment, while certain LSA-specific controls are replaced by the new Performance Max structure.
The major changes include:
| Campaign element | Before migration | After migration |
|---|---|---|
| Management platform | Local Services Ads | Google Ads |
| Campaign model | Local Services Ads | Performance Max with pay-per-lead goals |
| Charging model | Pay per valid lead | Pay per valid lead |
| Search placement | Google Search | Google Search |
| Maps placement | Google Maps | Google Maps |
| Keywords | Keywordless | Keywordless |
| Budget format | Average weekly budget | Average daily budget |
| Bidding | LSA bidding options | Google Ads bidding structure |
| GBP integration | Linked/connected profile | More integrated GBP-to-Google Ads workflow |
| Lead history | LSA dashboard | Google Ads Leads page |
| Historical campaign reports | LSA reporting | Must be saved before migration |
| BBB callouts | Previously available in eligible cases | No longer supported |
| Campaign management | Dedicated LSA interface | Google Ads interface |
The budget changes from weekly to daily
One of the clearest practical changes is budget management.
Historically, Local Services Ads used an average weekly budget. Following migration, Google Ads uses an average daily budget.
Google says the historical average weekly budget is divided by seven to establish the new daily average budget. The monthly spending limit is then based on the daily average multiplied by 30.4, Google’s average number of days in a month. Daily spending can vary according to demand, but the monthly limit follows that calculation.
For example, if a business had an average weekly budget of $700, the converted daily average would be approximately:
$700 ÷ 7 = $100/day
The business therefore moves from thinking in terms of a weekly LSA budget to managing an average daily budget in Google Ads.
This is not necessarily a change in the underlying amount the business intends to spend, but it changes how budget management is presented and controlled.
Manual bidding is being phased out
Another major difference is bidding.
Google’s migration documentation states that manual bidding, including approaches such as setting a maximum cost per lead, is being deprecated for these migrated campaigns. Industry-level Target CPA bidding is also being replaced by a unified campaign-level approach.
This matters particularly for businesses that previously differentiated their desired lead costs across different service categories.
For example, imagine a company provides:
- Plumbing
- HVAC
- Electrical services
Under a setup where different service categories could have separate Target CPA values, the business might have attempted to maintain different acquisition-cost targets for each category.
After migration, Google does not support separate vertical-level Target CPA settings inside the same campaign. A unified campaign-level Target CPA is calculated and applied across the applicable categories.
Businesses that need genuinely different bidding strategies for different service lines may therefore need to consider separate campaigns.
Google Business Profile becomes a more important operational dependency
Before migration, advertisers already needed accurate business information for Local Services Ads.
After migration, the connection between the Google Business Profile and Google Ads becomes even more important.
Google says core business information, including the business name, physical address, and business hours, can synchronize from the Business Profile to Google Ads. Minor changes can synchronize automatically, while significant changes can require verification.
This creates a practical difference in day-to-day campaign management.
If a business changes its address, business name, or another significant profile element immediately before or after migration, it should not assume the advertising campaign will continue unaffected. Google may need to review the change, and the campaign can temporarily pause during that process.
Historical reporting becomes a separate responsibility
One of the most important changes that businesses should prepare for is reporting.
Historical LSA campaign performance reports do not transfer into Google Ads.
Google specifically states that previous campaign-level metrics—including historical impressions, clicks, spend, and ad-level performance—will not migrate into Google Ads. Businesses should therefore save the information they need before the migration. Google says a download facility is being provided through the transition process, and screenshots can be used when historical information needs to be preserved immediately.
This creates a major reporting difference.
If a business wants to compare:
2025 LSA performance → 2026 pre-migration performance → 2026 post-migration performance
it should create its own historical record before the old reporting environment disappears.
Without that backup, future comparisons may be more difficult because the old campaign-level reporting will not simply appear inside the new Google Ads interface.
BBB callouts are removed
Another visible change is the removal of Better Business Bureau (BBB) callouts.
Google’s current migration documentation says BBB callouts are no longer supported in the new campaign setup. Instead, businesses are encouraged to use other structured callouts, such as information about business hours, specialties, or accepted payment methods. Google recommends selecting at least six alternative structured callouts.
This means businesses should review their profile presentation before migration rather than assuming every existing LSA profile element will be reproduced exactly.
The migration is automatic, but stabilization still takes time
Businesses should also avoid judging the new campaign too quickly.
Google says the migration is designed to minimize downtime, and many ads may begin running immediately. However, Google recommends allowing up to two weeks for the migration process to fully complete and campaign performance to return to stable levels.
That has an important practical implication:
Do not make several major campaign changes immediately after migration and then assume the resulting performance represents the final state.
A better approach is to establish a baseline, monitor lead volume and quality, check budget utilization, verify that the correct service categories and locations are active, and then make measured adjustments.
The migration therefore represents a shift from a dedicated LSA workflow to a more integrated Google Ads environment—not a complete replacement of the local lead-generation model.
For most businesses, the customer-facing fundamentals remain recognizable: local Search and Maps visibility, keywordless targeting, and pay-per-lead billing. The bigger changes occur behind the scenes in campaign management, budgeting, bidding, reporting, and the relationship between the campaign and the Google Business Profile.
The Target CPA Consolidation Problem: What Multi-Service Businesses Need to Know
One of the most important changes for businesses offering multiple services is the way Target CPA bidding is handled after Local Services Ads migrate to Performance Max with pay-per-lead goals.
This matters because a business may not value every type of lead equally.
For example, an HVAC company might offer:
- AC installation
- HVAC repair
- Furnace repair
- Heating installation
- Maintenance services
The business may be willing to pay considerably more for a new installation customer than for a smaller repair inquiry. Under the previous Local Services Ads structure, advertisers could use different bidding approaches for different service verticals within a campaign.
After migration, that flexibility changes.
One campaign can no longer use separate vertical-level Target CPAs
Google’s current migration documentation states that vertical-level Target CPA bidding is not supported in the new Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals.
If multiple service verticals are contained within the same campaign, Google calculates and applies a unified campaign-level Target CPA across those verticals.
This creates what can be called the Target CPA consolidation problem.
Imagine a company has two major service categories:
| Service | Desired lead cost |
|---|---|
| Emergency plumbing | $80 |
| Bathroom remodeling | $180 |
If both services operate inside the same migrated campaign, the business cannot simply assign one Target CPA to plumbing and another to remodeling within that campaign.
Instead, the campaign operates around a unified bidding strategy.
That can become an issue when service categories have substantially different:
- Lead values
- Average job sizes
- Profit margins
- Close rates
- Customer lifetime values
- Competitive intensity
- Geographic demand
Why this matters for multi-service businesses
A single Target CPA can create a mismatch between what the automated bidding system is optimizing for and how the business actually values its leads.
For instance, suppose a contractor receives leads for both small repairs and major installations.
A $100 lead might be excellent for a $3,000 installation but unattractive for a $250 repair. If the campaign treats those services under one bidding strategy, the business loses some of the control it previously had over how much it was willing to spend for each service category.
This does not mean the campaign will automatically produce poor results. Google’s automated bidding system evaluates auction-time signals and attempts to optimize toward the campaign’s selected goal. But it does mean businesses with materially different service economics should examine their campaign structure carefully after migration.
Separate campaigns can preserve different bidding rules
Google’s current guidance provides a structural solution: businesses that need different bidding rules for different verticals can create separate campaigns for each vertical.
For example:
Campaign 1: Plumbing
- Plumbing-related business category
- Plumbing service types
- Plumbing service areas
- Plumbing budget
- Plumbing lead-generation goal
- Plumbing-specific Target CPA, if appropriate
Campaign 2: HVAC
- HVAC category
- HVAC service types
- HVAC service areas
- HVAC budget
- HVAC lead-generation goal
- HVAC-specific Target CPA, if appropriate
This structure provides greater separation between service lines.
However, creating separate campaigns should not automatically be treated as the right solution for every advertiser. Campaign segmentation should reflect meaningful differences in business objectives and lead economics rather than simply creating as many campaigns as possible.
Don’t rush to set a Target CPA
Another important point is that Google does not recommend immediately imposing a Target CPA on every campaign.
Google’s current best-practice guidance says Maximize Conversions is the default bidding strategy. Google recommends considering Target CPA only after a campaign is consistently receiving more than 15 leads per month and its cost per lead is higher than the advertiser wants. Google also warns that an overly restrictive Target CPA can limit ad delivery and reduce local reach and lead volume.
That means a newly migrated campaign may need time to generate enough conversion data before a Target CPA becomes useful.
A practical sequence is:
Migration → data collection → lead-quality evaluation → baseline CPL → Target CPA decision
rather than:
Migration → immediately set an aggressive CPA target
Target CPA should reflect real business economics
A Target CPA should not simply be copied from an old LSA setting or chosen because it looks inexpensive.
Businesses should consider:
Maximum acceptable lead cost = Average customer value × acceptable acquisition percentage
For example, if a typical customer produces $2,000 in gross profit and the business is comfortable allocating 15% of that amount to acquiring the customer:
$2,000 × 15% = $300
That provides a starting economic reference point—not a guaranteed Google Ads Target CPA.
The business should also consider the percentage of leads that become paying customers.
If 20% of leads become customers and the average gross profit from a customer is $1,500, the economics of a $100 lead are very different from those of a $100 lead when only 5% of inquiries become customers.
Therefore, businesses should monitor lead-to-customer conversion, not just cost per lead.
What to Do Before Your Account Migrates: Action Checklist
The migration is largely automated, so businesses do not need to rebuild their Local Services Ads campaigns manually. Google says campaign settings such as targeted locations, service types, business categories, budget information, ad scheduling, and business photos are transferred automatically.
However, automatic migration does not mean there is nothing to prepare.
The period before migration is the best opportunity to document your existing performance and make sure the business information feeding the new campaign is accurate.
1. Save your historical LSA performance data
This should be one of the first steps.
Google states that historical campaign-level performance data does not transfer to Google Ads. This includes information such as previous impressions, clicks, spending, and ad-level performance reports.
Before migration, save the data you may need for future comparisons.
At minimum, record:
- Historical leads
- Lead cost
- Total spend
- Weekly/monthly budget
- Lead types
- Call volume
- Message volume
- Booking data, where available
- Service categories
- Geographic performance
- Ad or profile performance
- Previous bidding settings
- Important date ranges
Keep these records in a spreadsheet or reporting platform so you can compare pre-migration and post-migration performance.
2. Audit your Google Business Profile
The Google Business Profile becomes an important source of campaign information.
Google says campaign setup uses Business Profile data, including information such as business details, service areas, categories, and other profile information.
Before migration, check:
- Business name
- Address
- Phone number
- Business hours
- Primary category
- Additional categories
- Service areas
- Services
- Business description
- Photos
- Website
- Reviews
- Verification status
Make sure these details accurately represent the business.
3. Review your service categories
Multi-service businesses should pay particular attention here.
List every service you currently advertise and identify which services are genuinely important to the business.
For example:
| Business | Services |
|---|---|
| Plumber | Drain cleaning, leak repair, pipe replacement |
| HVAC company | AC repair, installation, heating |
| Roofing company | Roof repair, replacement, inspection |
| Electrician | Wiring, panel upgrades, emergency electrical repair |
The objective is not simply to include everything.
You want the campaign’s categories and service types to reflect the services for which you actually want qualified leads.
Google currently allows eligible campaigns to select business categories and specific service types, with service areas and other targeting settings available for refinement.
4. Document your existing bidding strategy
Before migration, record:
- Current bid strategy
- Target cost per lead, if applicable
- Maximum lead cost, if applicable
- Weekly budget
- Service-level bidding differences
- Lead volume
- Average lead cost
This is particularly important for businesses using multiple verticals.
You need to know what you were doing before migration so you can identify what changed afterward.
5. Calculate your real lead economics
Don’t evaluate your advertising only by looking at the cost of a lead.
Calculate:
Lead-to-customer rate
Average revenue per customer
Average gross profit per customer
Customer acquisition cost
Lifetime customer value, when applicable
For example:
If you receive 100 leads and 20 become customers:
Lead-to-customer rate = 20%
If those 20 customers generate $40,000 in revenue:
Revenue per customer = $2,000
This gives you a much more useful framework for determining whether the migrated campaign is economically viable.
6. Check your service areas
Google says service-area targeting is initially informed by the Business Profile and can be refined through campaign settings. Businesses can target relevant cities, counties, or ZIP codes within the supported geography.
Review whether the campaign is targeting areas the business can realistically serve.
Google’s current best-practice guidance recommends limiting service areas to locations the business can reasonably reach, noting a two-hour driving range as a practical guideline.
7. Review your ad schedule
Ad scheduling should match operational capacity.
If a company receives leads at night but cannot answer calls or respond quickly, those leads may have less value.
Google allows advertisers to edit the campaign’s ad schedule independently of the Business Profile’s opening hours. The schedule can also be aligned with business hours when appropriate.
8. Prepare for the budget format change
Your historical weekly LSA budget will be converted into a daily average.
Google says the historical average weekly budget is divided by seven to determine the new daily average budget. The monthly spending limit is based on the daily average multiplied by 30.4.
For example:
$1,400 weekly ÷ 7 = $200 average daily budget
This makes it easier to understand what the migrated campaign is actually configured to spend.
9. Review your verification status
If your business has already completed the required verification, Google says its verification status and Google Verified badge transfer automatically to Google Ads.
Still, make sure your business information remains accurate and that there are no unresolved verification issues.
10. Create a post-migration baseline
Before the migration, record a baseline.
Then, after migration, track:
- Leads
- Valid leads
- Cost per lead
- Lead source/type
- Lead quality
- Calls
- Messages
- Bookings
- Customer conversion rate
- Spend
- Budget utilization
This allows you to identify whether changes are related to the migration, normal market variation, or subsequent campaign modifications.
What This Migration Means for Agencies Managing Multiple Local Accounts
For agencies, the migration is more than a campaign-platform change. It can change the agency’s account-management workflow, reporting process, optimization routines, and client communication.
An agency managing 50 local-service clients, for example, cannot realistically treat the migration as 50 identical campaigns.
Each account may have different:
- Service categories
- Lead values
- Service areas
- Budgets
- Conversion rates
- Business Profile conditions
- Verification requirements
- Number of service verticals
- Target CPA requirements
Agencies need a migration inventory
Before migration begins, agencies should create a centralized inventory containing:
| Account information | What to record |
|---|---|
| Client | Business name |
| Account ID | Google Ads/LSA identifier |
| Industry | Main service category |
| Services | Major advertised services |
| Locations | Cities/ZIP codes/service areas |
| Budget | Current weekly budget |
| Bid strategy | Current bidding setup |
| Target CPA | Existing target, if any |
| Lead volume | Recent average |
| CPL | Recent average |
| Lead quality | Sales-qualified assessment |
| GBP | Profile status |
| Verification | Current status |
| Reporting | Historical backup completed |
| Migration date | Scheduled date |
| Post-migration review | Completed/not completed |
This creates a practical control center for the transition.
Agencies should not use one optimization template for every client
The biggest reason is the Target CPA issue.
A single-service plumber and a multi-service home-services company may require very different campaign structures.
Consider:
Client A: Emergency plumber
- One dominant service category
- High-intent calls
- Similar lead values
- Relatively simple campaign structure
Client B: Home-services company
- Plumbing
- HVAC
- Electrical
- Appliance repair
- Different average job values
The second client may require greater campaign segmentation because different verticals can have materially different lead economics and bidding requirements.
Google explicitly states that separate campaigns can be used when advertisers want different bidding rules for different verticals.
Agency reporting must change
Historical LSA campaign-level reports do not automatically appear in Google Ads.
Therefore, agencies should preserve historical data before each client migrates.
A useful reporting structure is:
Pre-migration period
- 30 days
- 60 days
- 90 days
Post-migration period
- Week 1
- Week 2
- Month 1
- Month 2
This creates a cleaner before-and-after comparison.
However, agencies should avoid interpreting the first few days as definitive evidence of long-term performance. Google notes that migrated campaigns may require up to two weeks to complete the transition and stabilize, while broader Performance Max guidance recommends evaluating performance over longer periods rather than reacting to single-day fluctuations.
Client communication becomes important
Clients may see their familiar LSA dashboard replaced by Google Ads.
Agencies should explain the change before it happens.
A simple client communication can cover:
- What is changing
- What is staying the same
- When the migration is scheduled
- How the budget will appear afterward
- Where leads will be managed
- What historical reports need to be saved
- Why early performance may fluctuate
- When the first meaningful performance review will occur
This prevents clients from interpreting a new dashboard or short-term fluctuation as an immediate campaign failure.
Agencies should monitor lead quality, not just lead volume
A migration can produce a reporting change without necessarily changing the underlying business objective.
For local-service clients, the important question remains:
Are the leads becoming real customers?
Agencies should therefore track:
Leads → Qualified leads → Appointments → Estimates → Jobs → Revenue
rather than stopping at:
Impressions → Clicks → Leads
The new campaign type is specifically designed around direct customer connections, and Google’s automated bidding uses signals such as search context, location, time, and device to optimize lead generation.
Agencies should allow the campaign to learn
Google recommends Maximize Conversions as the default strategy for pay-per-lead campaigns. Its current guidance says Target CPA should generally be considered after a campaign has consistently generated more than 15 leads per month and the existing cost per lead is higher than desired.
That gives agencies a useful optimization principle:
Don’t change the bidding target simply because the dashboard looks different.
First establish whether there is enough conversion data and whether the current lead economics justify changing the bidding strategy.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Google Local Services Ads
What is the difference between Google Local Services Ads and Performance Max?
Traditional Local Services Ads operate through Google’s dedicated local-services system. The migrated product is a Performance Max campaign with pay-per-lead goals, managed through Google Ads.
The new campaign is still different from standard Performance Max.
| Feature | Local Services Ads | Performance Max with pay-per-lead goals |
|---|---|---|
| Management | LSA interface | Google Ads |
| Payment model | Pay per lead | Pay per valid lead |
| Search | Yes | Yes |
| Maps | Yes | Yes |
| Keywords | Keywordless | Keywordless |
| Main profile source | Business Profile | Business Profile |
| Standard PMax networks | No | No |
| Targeting | Local services | Local services |
| Budget | Average weekly | Average daily |
| Bidding | Legacy LSA options | Automated Google Ads bidding |
Standard Performance Max can serve across Google’s broader advertising inventory, while Performance Max with pay-per-lead goals is designed specifically around local Search and Maps placements.
Will my Google Guarantee badge carry over after migration?
If your business already has the applicable verification and is eligible for the Google Verified badge, Google says the verification status and Google Verified badge transfer automatically during migration.
Businesses should still maintain accurate business information and comply with Google’s verification requirements. The transfer of the badge does not mean future business-information changes will never require additional review.
Can I opt out of the migration?
Google’s current migration documentation describes the transition as an automated migration for eligible accounts rather than an optional change that advertisers can simply decline.
The documentation provides a phased migration schedule and explains that eligible accounts are automatically transitioned according to that rollout.
Businesses outside the currently supported migration groups may continue using the legacy Local Services system until their category or region becomes eligible.
How much notice will I get before my account is migrated?
Google says the account administrator receives an email 14 days before the scheduled migration date. A notification banner also appears in the existing Local Services Ads dashboard, followed by another reminder before migration.
After migration, Google sends another notification confirming that the transition has been completed.
Because migration dates can depend on the rollout phase and account eligibility, businesses should monitor both the account’s email address and the LSA dashboard rather than relying on a general industry-wide date.
What happens to my historical reporting data after migration?
Historical campaign-level performance reports do not transfer to Google Ads.
Google specifically identifies historical metrics such as impressions, clicks, weekly spend, and ad-level performance as information that will not carry over.
Businesses should therefore download or otherwise preserve their historical reports before migration.
There is an important distinction, however:
Historical customer leads do transfer.
Google says past customer contact information, message conversations, and older call recordings are transferred into the new Google Ads Leads page.
So:
Lead history = transfers
Historical campaign performance reporting = does not transfer
How does the budget change after migration?
The budget changes from an average weekly budget to an average daily budget.
Google automatically divides the historical average weekly budget by seven to determine the daily average. The monthly spending limit is calculated using the daily average multiplied by 30.4.
For example:
$700 weekly budget ÷ 7 = $100 average daily budget
The campaign may spend more or less than that amount on individual days depending on demand, but Google’s monthly spending limit uses the daily average × 30.4 calculation.
What is the Target CPA consolidation problem for multi-service businesses?
The issue occurs when a business operates multiple service verticals inside the same campaign but wants different acquisition-cost targets for each one.
Google does not support separate vertical-level Target CPAs in the migrated campaign. Instead, a unified campaign-level Target CPA is calculated and applied across the relevant vertical categories.
Businesses that require different bidding rules can use separate campaigns for different verticals.
For example:
Campaign A → Plumbing
Campaign B → HVAC
This gives the advertiser separate campaign-level bidding structures rather than forcing different verticals into one Target CPA framework.
How long does it take for performance to stabilize after migration?
Google says businesses should allow up to two weeks for the migration process to fully complete and campaign performance to ramp back toward stable levels.
That does not mean every account will take exactly 14 days.
Performance can fluctuate because automated bidding reacts to changing auction conditions, conversion signals, budgets, targeting, and other campaign factors. Google’s broader Performance Max guidance recommends looking at longer periods rather than judging performance from a single day.
For that reason, agencies and businesses should establish a baseline and monitor the first several weeks before making multiple major changes at once.
How does the Google Business Profile sync work after migration?
Google Ads uses the linked Google Business Profile as a major source of business information.
Google says it performs a daily synchronization for key details. Changes to business hours, phone numbers, and some minor business-name updates can synchronize automatically, while significant changes—such as a major business-name change, storefront address change, or primary category change—can require verification.
Google’s current documentation says significant changes can cause the campaign to temporarily pause while the information is reviewed, with the review typically taking around 24–48 hours.
Core business information such as the business name and address is sourced from the Business Profile and cannot simply be edited as ordinary campaign copy inside Google Ads. To change those details, the underlying Business Profile must be updated.
This makes Business Profile maintenance an important part of post-migration campaign management.
What replaces BBB callouts after migration?
BBB callouts are no longer supported in the migrated campaign structure.
Google instead provides structured callouts that can highlight business characteristics such as:
- Free estimates
- Locally owned
- Specialties
- Payment methods
- Other relevant business attributes
Google’s current guidance allows up to six callouts per business category.
Businesses should use these callouts to communicate useful differentiators rather than trying to reproduce the old BBB-specific presentation.
The new system can also use automated assets when the business website is connected and asset optimization is enabled. Google says these automated assets can generate relevant information, including callouts, from the website. Advertisers can turn this feature off if they do not want Google generating those assets automatically.
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